Just had a 13b turbo motor rebuilt with brand new everything inside. Old rotors were used, and old housings and stuff too but they were all good. So i just got it back and put it in the car. And come to find out i have 30psi in the front and 60 in the rear... whats up with that?? any ideas of what could have gone wrong with the rebuild.

 

who did the rebuild? do they know what they are doing? what kind of compression tester are you using? did you try to start it? compression is usually low until it gets broken in but it shouldnt be that low. they could have installed the apex seal springs incorrectly. if it comes down to it you can remove the exhaust manifold and rotate the motor by hand with a wrench untill you can feel the apex seal through the exhaust port, you should be able to feel them protruding out of the apex seal slot and you should be able to push them it and they should spring back out. it should be hard to push in...

 

Ok wait.... Have you put any miles on it? or did you just drop it in and do a comp test right away? If you did the latter, you need to put miles on it so the seals break in and seal better. Your compression is going to be crappy until then. I suggest setting the idle high (~1500) and letting it just sit for a good while.

 

it's hard to evaluate whether your housings and say side seals were "good" without an edgewear measurement, a visual examination of the chrome surface, or sticking a feeler gauge in the side seal gap

but yeah that is really low

 

dumbass didnt rebuild my motor right. Just pulled it appart. All the water jacket seals inner and outer are swelled and out of place (there was coolant in the oil). Half of them are torn, every single side seal, corner seal and apex seal was sticking because he didnt file down the side seals. Apparently new side seals need to be filed a little bit to fit. And he didnt even clean any carbon off the rotors. Ugh. so now i gotta re order all new parts. IM PISSED

 

Wow. Did you pay for this?

 

damn. sorry to hear that.

 

Probably used petroleum jelly on the rubber seals. That will definitely swell some types of rubber. I know from personal experience.

 

yea i payed for all the parts, plus 500 dollars for him to do it. I have to buy a whole new o-ring kit because that one was ruined. But i did get a large street port and he put in extra dowel pins. So i guess i didnt get completely jipped. Reguardless the parts are on the way, and it gives me an excuse to put in my new clutch i just ordered. I got the F1 stage 3 on ebay. I know people hate ebay but i got a couple friends who have the f1 clutch and it works great. For 180 bucks you cant go wrong. And im throwin in the 93-95 corner seal springs instead of the weak 87 ones. It'll all work out in the end im sure.

 

did he do the porting? cuz if he did...going off of how shitty he rebuilt the motor i would take another look at the port job...

 

i second that thought

 

Lame-o.. This is why 'I' wont pay someone to work on my car. (maybe pineapple for a motor)
The side seals need to be more than filed. You should be able to eat off the inside of the engine, before assembly fluids. (Rotorware) Engine should not have carbon at all..

I'm definitely no expert, but I did watch the Bruce Torrentine video like 10 times and even followed along as I built my first 13b in my apartment, still running.. Kinda, down for upgrade.

Rotories require a maintenance mechanic why not save some $$$ and know how your girl is doing...
Intimately.

I used petroleum jelly?.. I think a lot of people do..

Best of luck! Lets see that porting...

 

extra dowel pins? What does that mean? It sounds like you aren't going to be asking for your money back...

 

use Crisco on the coolant o-rings (the stuff in the blue tin). they won't swell then. And side seal clearance is tricky to do if you've never done it before. I just put new side seals in my motor and I wanted every seal to have around .002" clearance. I had to redo a bunch of them because I over-filed and the gap was too loose. Others a couple others I didn't file down enough. So I forcefully stuck them in there and then they broke when I removed them to file them down more.

I carefully tested each seal for smooth movement (with springs installed) before I set the rotors in the engine.

 

yeah i just perto jelly in all my rebuilds an havnt had a single problem with them swelling or leaking if you do it right it will just burn off an get into the oil thats why you change your oil at 500 or atleast thats what i read an i followed it an havnt had any problem but sensors takin a crap on me hahaha... but best of luck man try it your self an be careful take your time then if sometime does happen you cant blame no one but your self thats my way at lookin at it...an its a fun trade to learn

 

http://www.braptv.com/play.php?vid=129

Clean Your Rotor.

 

that was a great video!

 

the ports looks fine, he's rebuilt motors before i just dont think he put enough effort into rebuilding it or cleaning it. and i ordered hylomar. because thats the material your supposed to use for the o rings.